Northern Irish boy, 10, dies after Tenerife hit-and-run

A 10-year-old boy from Northern Ireland has died in hospital in Tenerife after being knocked down in a hit-and-run while leaving a shopping centre.

Carter Carson, from Newtownabbey in County Antrim, was on an Easter holiday with his family. He was hit by a car on Thursday night in Adeje, a resort in the south of the island. He was treated initially in a local hospital and was then moved to the university hospital in the capital, Santa Cruz, where he died on Friday.

A family friend, Charlene Dinnen, who launched a crowdfunding appeal on the JustGiving site seeking to raise £3,000 to help with funeral expenses, had more than doubled that sum by Sunday night. She described Carter as “a happy-go-lucky wee boy who just loved his footy, taken after his daddy and his granda. I can’t even put into words how heartbreaking this is.”

A red Alfa Romeo believed to have been involved in the incident was later found abandoned. Spanish police tweeted an appeal for witnesses to the collision. Two men have been arrested and are expected to appear in court early this week.

Carter was a pupil at Abbots Cross primary school in Newtownabbey, where the principal, Joanne Griffith, said the building would be opened specially later this week during the school holidays so that pupils and parents could come in to sign a book of memories.

“Carter was a quiet, hardworking boy with lovely manners and a gentle, caring nature. He loved a game of football and was an enthusiastic member of our school running club and our football club,” Griffith said. “He was recently our star pupil of the month and no one had a bigger smile than Carter when he received his star pupil award.”

A tribute “with deepest condolences and heavy hearts” was posted by Newtownabbey youth football club, where Carter had played since he was five.